How to Bring Breast Milk to Room Temperature

Giving your baby breast milk provides her with countless health benefits, so even when you’re not able to actually feed her from your breast, you can still offer your baby expressed breast milk through a bottle. Giving her breast milk that is too cold – like from the freezer or refrigerator -- or even too warm may not be appealing to the baby. While it is difficult to judge the exact temperature of the milk, try to bring the milk as close to room temperature as possible before offering it to your baby.

1. Remove frozen breast milk from the freezer. Place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours to thaw.

1. Place the container of cold breast milk in a bowl with warm water. Let it sit in the warm water for 10 minutes.

1. Check the temperature of the milk by placing a few drops on your wrist. If the milk is still too cold, replace the warm water in the bowl and let the milk soak for another few minutes until it is about room temperature.

Tips

If you need to thaw frozen breast milk quickly, run it under cool water first. Then, run it under warm water until the milk has thawed. Once the milk has thawed, you can then bring it to room temperature by placing it in a bowl of warm water.

Tips

Once frozen breast milk has been thawed, use it within 24 hours. Do not refreeze thawed breast milk.

Tips

If you have breast milk that is not frozen but is only refrigerated, you can bring it to room temperature in a bowl of warm water.

Warnings

Do not thaw frozen breast milk on the counter at room temperature. Doing so can breed bacteria in the milk.